Spa Girl loves to RELAX with Lavender, Geranium and Sage

Let’s face it, even the best time managers find that there lives can often spiral out of control, we are way to busy and the “to-do” list just keeps growing. It’s so important to relax, rejuvenate, and restore your body, mind and spirit.

Relaxation requires practice and often takes a back seat in a busy day. However learning to relax through yoga, tai chi, listening to music, exercise, meditation, or my favourite, massage offers many wonderful benefits. You can lower your blood pressure, slow your heart rate, increase blood flow to your muscle groups, reduce tension and chronic pain, improve concentration—you get the picture.

Learning to relax basically involves focusing your attention on something that is calming and increase your awareness of your body. And breathe! There are different types of relaxation such as autogenic, progressive muscle and visualization. These simply mean you pay attention to something from within yourself, a place of peace and slow yourself down within this quiet space, or slowly tense and relax muscle groups and build on your awareness of physical sensations from your toes to your neck and head, or visualize a journey to a peaceful, calming place. I always head to the beach and think about the sound of crashing waves, the salty smell of the air and how good the sun feels.

There are many “perfect” moments in life and the next time you find yourself in a “perfect” moment, memorize it and use that as your peaceful, calming place. It works! As you learn to relax you will become more aware of muscle tension, and stress. Once you know what it feels like you can practice a relaxation method the moment you start to feel these symptoms and not have them build up. I know, I know, practice what I preach and remember everything worthwhile takes practice.

I had the perfect lunch on Thursday; I went for a facial, now that’s a nice way to relax.

Here’s a mist you can use to help relax, spray it on before you start your relaxation exercises and see if it helps. It’s easy to make, just add 20 drops each of lavender, geranium and clary sage essential oil into 4 ounces of water and mist away.